


Culture Shock

by InnocentPen90



Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Young Justice
Genre: Curiousity, Gen, No Sex, Nudity, Wally is basically racist (in a benign way), social norms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 21:20:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11998176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnocentPen90/pseuds/InnocentPen90
Summary: Artemis discovers that Mount Justice’s showers are mixed and that Kaldur and Megan come from really different cultures than humans. This is NOT a smutfic.





	Culture Shock

 

“-What the fuck.” Those were the first words that Artemis spoke when she saw what the Mount Justice showers were. Instead of a gender segregated washing facility, Artemis saw a single big room with about 12 shower heads spaced roughly five feet apart. Artemis was not happy. She wanted to wash the filth from the dust up at Cadmus and she’d discovered much to her ire, that the rooms provided didn’t have bathrooms. There were located at the end of the residential level but not shower rooms. She’d followed the signs quite hopefully till she saw what awaited her. The sound of multiple boots behind her announced the approach of the rest of the team.

“Man I cannot wait to wash all that dust off. Do you know how it sticks when you’re racing around? No? Well I do. Cadmus doesn’t seem to have heard of air conditioning. That whole pit was a freakin’ boiler room!” Ah. The loudmouth. “I hope you guys don’t mind me hogging the hot water cuz it’s all miiiine.” The yellow clad boy turned the corner and on his heels were Kaldur, Robin and Megan.

Artemis glanced at them and noticed the moment they figured out the problem with the showers. Wally’s mouth dropped open speechless, Robin stopped mid-step and ran a hand through his hair and Megan let out a rather cute “eep” of shock. Curiously Kaldur just walked into the shower room like it was no biggie. He was putting his water whips on the bench alongside one wall when Artemis came to her senses. She could tell that the older boy had no troubles with the situation at hand and that surprised her.

“Er Kaldur?” Robin said.

“Yes?” Kaldur turned around laying a solemn gaze on the young boy.

“Don’t you notice a problem with the showers?” Robin asked. His mind was racing, he couldn’t imagine that the League could have inhabited a single shower when they occupied the base. Quite frankly he could have done without the mental images of his dad and his honorary uncles and aunts in the buff. Together. Ah! Time for the brain bleach.

“I do not young Robin. What is the problem you see with the facilities? It seems clean well-lit and well stocked with hygiene supplies.”

Robin almost face palmed. “What the hell…”

“What the grasshopper is saying my fishy friend is that this is a mixed bathing unit. And we are not used to it and are really not interested in it at all.” Wally said. He would give it a shot if it were just the girls and him of course. Just saying.

“Is this not a norm of the surface world? I remember some Asiatic and European cultures have no qualms about it. Given the geographical spread of such an occurrence, I figured this was normal. Besides Atlanteans of both genders shower together without much reticence. It is a part of our communal nature, much like our common dining halls.” Kaldur was rather puzzled at this unusual nugget of information.

“Well I don’t know about you but, the euro guys are pretty wild with nudity and I’m not sure which Asiatic culture is free with mixed nudity. They’re for the most part rather conservative.” Robin explained “however here in the States we don’t hold truck with the whole nude in front of others thingy.”

“Nudity is not an issue on Mars as our base forms have no dimorphic features nor genitalia to speak of.” Megan offered timidly. “It is only upon arriving on Earth that I learned about the taboos of separate genders being nude together unless in a familial or romantic relationship. I have now absorbed the gravity of the situation and am embarrassed on your behalf.”

“No g-genitalia?” Wally stuttered. _Of course the idiot would concentrate on that,_ Artemis thought to herself. The hormonal boy had been eyeing her all day.

“That fact raises an interesting question, how are baby Martian’s made?” Robin asked curiously. However he wished he hadn’t when he saw Megan’s face fall.

“I am sad to admit I do not know. My uncle and I are the last of our people much like your Kryptonian warrior is the last of his. My uncle did not impart that knowledge to me, knowing perhaps the futility of having it and not being able to utilise it.” Megan said softly. Her eyes downcast. Artemis gasped in shock before hurrying to the other girl’s side and enclosing Megan in a comforting embrace. Over Megan’s shoulder she shot a death glare at Robin for disturbing the sensitive alien. The young hero held up his hands and mouthed ‘sorry’ at her.

“So what is your base form like Megan?” Kaldur asked curiously. Next to him Wally squawked.

“Kaldur you sick fuck!” Artemis yelled. Megan blushed, but squared her shoulders anyway.

“No, no Artemis. It’s ok. As I have said, I place no shame on being nude in front of you. As it is, you are now my close friends, and I believe it is Earth standard to be alright with casual nudity amoung friends?” Megan said.

“Heheheh…That’s if we’ve been friends for a while though!” Robin chuckled nervously.

“It doesn’t matter. You will not be seeing anything untoward by your human standards I assure you.” Megan said earnestly.

She walked out of the group into the middle of the showers and stood with her hands by her side. Her suit was slowly replaced from a form fitting leotard into what seemed to be forest green unitard. As it moved up her body, angular lines appeared marking the areas of her ribs and chest. As it moved up her head, her vibrant read hear receded and her skull narrowed before elongating to a point. The most remarkable transformation happened when her nose disappeared and her eyes turned a pupils orange. She waved a hand at her body and said,” Tada!”

The teens were dumbfounded. Yeah they lived in a universe where aliens, demons and clones were a fact of life but all of them always had the innate sense that humans were it. To be confronted time and again by a creature that was indeed _alien_ both in origin and features, it basically shut down their brain.

“Guuuuuh…” Wally said rather inarticulately. “Right. Ok, and here I thought the weirdest thing was Robin’s first uniform.”

**WHAP**! Artemis hand moving like a striking cobra slapped her teammate upside the head. “Tact, do you have it birdbrain?”

“Hey I resent that insult!” Robin quipped. “And I was 8. For 8 that costume was rad, speed skunk.”

“Who you calling speed skunk!” Wally cried.

“You. The wake you leave with your BO…it can kill.” Artemis said.

A giggle broke their banter. “It is nice my form is not too disconcerting to the point you cannot act as yourselves.”

Robin flipped forward giving his teammate a hug. “Nah, you’re very concerting!”

Artemis sighed at the butchering of the English language yet another time by the peppy kid.

“Your form is indeed very interesting.” Kaldur said. “Even I have my own physiological differences. Atlanteans are not pure human. We diverged several millennia ago from base human stock during the time you call the Great Flood.”

The other teens’ eyes widened.

“Wait, wait, and wait! You mean the Bible flood? Unhappy with humans and kapow with forty days flood?!” Wall exclaimed.

“Yes, I believe that is the same one we in our histories call the Deluge. What of Atlantean history do you know?” Kaldur asked.

“Er, not much to be honest. I mean, we only found out about Atlantis when King Orin appeared a few years back to help with the White Martian invasion. And he’s been notoriously tight-lipped about anything to do with your society or people. Hence our surprise with your communal bathing shtick.” Robin said, gesturing at the dark teen.

“Ah. I would see how that would cause confusion. Well let me clear it up. Most of you know the visible differences between Atlanteans and base humans. I have gills on my neck which allow me to stay out of water for a short period of time as well as fins on my legs that help with my swimming. However I do I have other attributes that are far from human.” Saying that, Kaldur detached his weapon harness and laid it on the bench before taking of the top half of his uniform. Artemis blushed at seeing the well-defined muscles before her mind caught up to what her mind was seeing.

Kaldur had _scales._ Faint scales that carpeted his upper body from chest down to navel and beyond disappearing beneath his pants. Not only that, there were a series of circular marks an inch or two in diameter running down his side like race stripes.

“You can see two more differences from base human. Let me explain them. The scales, for that is indeed what they are, help with our swimming. Before we invented our suits, our bodies were developed to provide the greatest ease of motion. In this the scales help the passage of water of our bodies whilst also protecting our skin from the harsh saline environment. The circles you see on my body? I believe you will find them very interesting. You humans call it the ampullae of Lorenzini. We Atlanteans merely call it the Sense. It is an organ that helps detect electrical fields. It years past, it helped us in the gloom of the ocean track prey as well as avoid predators. Sharks are one of the many creatures of the deep that have them.” Without warning, Kaldur pulled off the rest of his uniform, leaving the teenager nude.

“Oh my god!” Wally slapped his palm to his eyes. Artemis however was spellbound. The scales did continue well past Kaldur’s belt line, but diverged around his pubic region (which she eyed with approval, he _was_ a natural blonde) before continuing down his thighs and legs. The ampullae too, was unbroken to the teen’s feet.

Robin was not disturbed by his team leader stripping in front of him. He was keenly interested in what Kaldur was sharing. He wasn’t allergic to learning, else he wouldn’t have joined mathletes. He soaked up all sorts of knowledge like a sponge.

Megan was undisturbed as well, merely curious about another alien culture as they were about her.

“Any questions my friends?” Kaldur asked.

Robin had one. “How come you have hair if you grew scales? In fish I think scales takes the place of hair.”

Kaldur had a ready answer. “Our physiology and traits were not decided by evolution Robin, but by magic. The saviour of our people many thousands of years ago enchanted us with the best traits of ocean going creatures so that we had the best chance of survival.”

Wally scoffed, “Magic! That’s not real.”

**WHAP**!

“Ow goddamn it Rob! What was that for?” Wally rubbed the back of his head, glaring at his best friend furiously.

“We’ve met aliens, have met a sub race of humans, you are able to run faster than anything and you doubt magic?” Robin said staring at his friend with his eyebrows raised.

“I’ve fucking seen all that right? Ain’t never seen magic. So I don’t believe it.” Wally said stubbornly.

**WHAP**! The next strike came from Artemis who had a smirk on her face. “That was for cursing, and secondly…you’re Catholic dude, how do you not believe in something you don’t see?”

Wally grumbled giving the blonde girl the stink eye. “That’s different.” He shot a sideways glance before blanching.

“Hey Kaldur mind putting your clothes back on?” Wally asked.

“I do not believe I will Kid Flash. I came here with the intent on washing myself. It would be counterintuitive to wash myself with my clothes on.” Kaldur replied.

“Can’t believe I totally forgot why we all came here.” Artemis groaned. “It’s late and tomorrow is a school night. And I still need to shower!”

“So why don’t we just shower? Here? I’m sure numb nuts can control the urge to ogle.” Robin said.

“I believe Robin is correct. If Wally does not behave in a suitable manner, I will do unpleasant things with his dreams.” Megan stated in a firm tone, turning her unearthly features to the suddenly nervous redhead.

“Shit I can! I can!” Wally cried out.

“Good, girls you take that wall, we’ll take this.” Everybody looked over and saw to their surprise he was mostly nude and was in the process of stepping out of his underwear.

Artemis stifled a giggle. He really was a shameless daring little shit. With a playful glint in her eye, she said, “Last one in the showers has to go two rounds with BC tomorrow!” And she then she was getting out of her clothes as fast as a teen superhero could.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this.


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